Welcome to the black parade

Kevin Bronson is expected to return tomorrow. This is the part where you get excited. Unfortunately, I won't be here to see your smiling faces. Instead I will return to my other cyber-home, The Passion of the Weiss. Thank you for putting up with me and for not storming the gates of this blog with pitchforks and battle rams. It is much appreciated.

Black is the new wolf. Or maybe wolf is the new black? Or maybe the wolves are the new pandas? And if so, does that mean that current indie rock band names are merely the result of one too many trips to the zoo? I'm not really sure. But if you can bear to remember one more band with "Black" in its name, it should be local psych-mopers The Black Pine.

In a city of seemingly perpetual sunshine, The Black Pine's clashing aesthetic goes deeper than their name. Crafting droning dirges, The Black Pine sound at times like a Bristol trip-hop band on downers, circa 1992. Live, their melancholic, trancelike sound successfully captures the hazy mood music of their recently released record, With Us.

At their Echo performance Monday night, the funereal-seeming Black Pine wore somber suits and gloomy expressions, running through a 45-minute set fitting for the record's bleak, bruised beauty. While initially seeming a tad underwhelming, the group built steam throughout the evening, adding a trumpet blast here, shaken percussion there and the occasional burst of swooping, dazed drums. Perhaps the highlight came when Emma Ka Cichoki sang "Laurel Canyon Sunrise", showing off her ghostly, fragile voice recalling Hope Sandoval of Mazzy Star crossed with Beth Gibbons of Portishead.

Despite the slightly muted energy of the set, the haunting songs stood out, opaque gems perfect to throw on the moment the weather gets murky. You never know when it'll rain in the early spring, so you might want to keep With Us around at all times, just in case. It's the ideal record to break out at the first hint of black clouds.

Download: The Black Pine - "Let Go"

◊ ◊ ◊

Touts for Wednesday, April 10

Woven Hand, featuring the often-Nick Cave-compared David Eugene Edwards of 16 Horsepower, play night two at The Silverlake Lounge, with psych-poppers The Dodo opening up. The politically minded and interestingly named Bitch and the Interesting Conclusion headline a night at the Hotel Cafe, also featuring Emily Wells and Vanesa Bley. Headlining Kiss or Kill night at Safari Sam's is The Automatic Music Explosion, a band who describe themselves as The Archies meet AC/DC. Also playing are Inazuma, Casablance and the fun, 60s-tinged rock of The Prix. Lastly, veteran Canadian rockers The Cowboy Junkies rock the El Rey. No word on whether or not they'll cover "Sweet Jane."

Comments

[Jason]

Hey Kevin

So you're usually in the know. Is SSPU playing the Fold anniversary show or what?

[krbronson]

Jason: A very good question. I just got back from vacation (which intersected, coincidentally with the SSPU/OK Go/Snow Patrol tour, which I saw in lovely St. Louis) and will have to ask around. If the Fold's special guest is indeed somebody who got their start playing Fold shows, it could be any number of people .... hey, now that's an idea -- the Foldfest. Who'd be on that lineup? Stay tuned re the anniversary show ...